The invention relates to a vacuum cleaner comprising a housing, which accommodates a suction unit, a suction accessory, which can be coupled to the housing via a suction hose and a suction tube, a handle, which is situated near a coupling between the suction hose and the suction tube, and a holder for further accessories, which is detachably coupled to the handle and connects to said handle near a first end and a second end.
The invention also relates to a holder which can suitably be used in a vacuum cleaner in accordance with the invention.
The invention further relates to a suction hose which can suitably be used in a vacuum cleaner in accordance with the invention, said suction hose comprising the handle of the vacuum cleaner.
The invention additionally relates to a suction tube which can suitably be used in a vacuum cleaner in accordance with the invention, said suction tube comprising the handle of the vacuum cleaner.
A vacuum cleaner of the type mentioned in the opening paragraph is disclosed in EP-B-0 747 000. The handle of the known vacuum cleaner is tubular and forms part of a suction duct of the vacuum cleaner which connects the suction accessory to the suction unit. The holder of the known vacuum cleaner is plate-shaped and extends parallel to the handle in a state wherein the holder is coupled to the handle. A number of further accessories of the vacuum cleaner are detachably coupled to the holder. Since the holder is in the immediate vicinity of the handle, a user of the vacuum cleaner has said accessories close at hand, resulting in a high ease of use. Since the holder connects to the handle only near the two ends of the holder, a relatively large gripping space for the handle is provided between the handle and the holder, so that upon gripping the handle, the user is not hampered by the holder. The known holder comprises, at each of the two ends, a coupling member for coupling the holder to the handle. As a result, a stable coupling of the holder to the handle is achieved.
A drawback of the known vacuum cleaner resides in that uncoupling the holder requires both the first end and the second end of the holder to be uncoupled from the handle, while coupling the holder to the handle requires both the first end of the holder and the second end of the holder to be coupled to the handle. Consequently, coupling and uncoupling of the holder is rather inconvenient to the user. A further drawback of the known vacuum cleaner resides in that the forces exerted on the holder during detaching an accessory from the holder may unintentionally cause the entire holder to be uncoupled from the handle.